Dear Bob, here are some photos of my life here on the campus of Concordia Seminary. I love kids, working with the grounds crew, swimming, playing with my dog friends, and especially my own family people.

Tomorrow is Halloween. The story of Halloween is much much richer than today's habit of dressing up in costumes and trolling neighborhoods for candy. The true origins of Halloween lie with the ancient Celtic tribes who lived in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany. For the Celts, November 1 marked the beginning of a new year and the coming of winter. The night before the new year, they celebrated the festival of Samhain, Lord of the Dead. During this festival, Celts believed the souls of the dead—including ghosts, goblins and witches—returned to mingle with the living. In order to scare away the evil spirits, people would wear masks and light bonfires.

In 835, Pope Gregory IV moved the celebration for all the martyrs (later all saints) from May 13 to November 1. The night before became known as All Hallow’s Even or “holy evening.” Eventually the name was shortened to the current Halloween. The purpose of these feasts is to remember those who have died, whether they are officially recognized by the Church as saints or not. It is a celebration of the “communion of saints,” which reminds us that the Church is not bound by space or time.

Then came Martin Luther, the father of the Protestant Reformation. October 31 has become Reformation Day in Lutheran Churches as well as other Christian denominations. It was on October 31 that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door of the castle church at Wittenberg, Germany, thus setting in motion the break from the Roman Catholic church.

To many Christians, October 31, is a matter of life and death in the eternal sense. Listen here to one of Martin Luther's most famous hymns of the faith, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. And should we need consolation in these days of terror threats, know well that fear was not unknown back in the 1500's as this verse from the hymn reads:

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

Dateline Scotland: A Scottish township will celebrate Halloween by pardoning 81 women and children plus their cats. These people...and cats...were executed way back in the 16th and 17th centuries after being accused of being witches. The cats presumably were guilty of being black furred.

So what the heck? These poor women and children are still dead...as are their cats. Their immediate families are long gone. What possible point is there to this? Make the desendents of the executers feel better? Silly willy. You can't wipe away history just because you don't like something that happened in your own back yard. Or township. And speaking of townships....nah, not today.

Sports Illustrated has a story on the University of Missouri Cross Country team. Having had a daughter who ran cross country for Missou, this story warms my heart. Other stories about these runners here. and here

Southern Illinois democrats are in full panic mode as Tuesday looms closer and closer. They got a union to call a press conference on Friday in order to promote Gordon Maag. This was a bit late in the day for something like this, but it probably served as what they think of as a clarion call to all union voters. Now a judge has overturned a restraining order issued by a Williamson County judge which stopped commercials in favor of Maag's opponent, Karmeier. These commercials can run again. Another union, the Operating Engineers Local 318 brought the complaint earlier this month which resulted in the restraining order.

A couple people calling themselves republicans are sending letters to people in the area promoting Maag. We received 3 of these yesterday. They may well be republican, but it is difficult to see how this helps anyone but Maag and the local democrats. Update, we received 3 more of these Maag letters today. Of the 6 several write a letter with the intention of scaring senior citizens. Yadda yadda. The low point in this whole deal so far.

There is one way to put an end to this kind of stuff and to send a strong message that this type of stranglehold politics is not acceptable any longer. Vote for Lloyd Karmeier, Supreme Court Justice, on Tuesday.

Happens all the time around election day. Now the metro east has some serious questions about who these registered voters are who are all living under one roof at 1232 Cleveland Ave in East St Louis. This is the address of a democrat precinct committeeman.

And of the 44 democratic committeemen in East St. Louis 22 of them have at least 3 registered voters with different last names living at the committeemen's homes. 7 have 5 or more. One person listed the Casino Queen as a home address and another asked that her absentee ballot be sent to a St. Louis address.

But wait, there's more. You can read it for yourself. If this doesn't strain your credibility I don't know what would. Yeah, go Madison St. Clair democrats. And people wonder why this big voter push is viewed with skepticism.